AppCode
 
2022.2
Shortcuts: macOS
Get AppCode
You are viewing the documentation for an earlier version of AppCode.
  1. Advanced IDE Features
  2. Command-line interface

Command-line interface

Last modified: 19 July 2022

Use AppCode features from the command line: open files and projects, view diffs, merge files, apply code style, formatting, and inspect the source code.

tip

For information about running command-line tools from inside AppCode, see Terminal.

Launcher for a standalone instance

To run AppCode from the shell, use the open command with the following options:

  • -a: specify the application.

  • --args: specify additional arguments when passing more than just the file or directory to open.

  • -n: open a new instance of the application even if one is already running.

For example, you can run AppCode.app with the following command:

$
open -na "AppCode.app"

note

If AppCode is not in the default /Applications directory, specify the full path to it.

You can create a shell script with this command in a directory from your PATH environment variable. For example, create the file /usr/local/bin/appcode with the following contents:

#!/bin/sh

open -na "AppCode.app" --args "$@"

Make sure you have permissions to execute the script and since /usr/local/bin should be in the PATH environment variable by default, you should be able to run appcode from anywhere in the shell.

Shell scripts generated by the Toolbox App

If you are using the Toolbox App to install and manage JetBrains products, you can use shell scripts for launching your IDEs from the command line.

Toolbox App generates shell scripts automatically and places them to the following folders:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\Toolbox\scripts

By default, the Toolbox App puts shell scripts in a directory from the system PATH environment variable, so you can run the name of the script as a command to launch AppCode from any working directory.

Change shell scripts location

  1. Open the Toolbox App and click the Toolbox App menu icon in the top right corner.

    Toolbox App menu icon

  2. On the Settings tab, expand the Tools section, and specify another folder in the Shell scrips location field.

    Changing location of shell scripts

Rename shell scripts

If you have several versions of the same IDE, the Toolbox App generates a shell script for each version with a unique name. You can change the name of the shell script for an IDE instance in the settings for this specific instance.

  1. Open the Toolbox App.

  2. Click Tool actions next to an IDE instance and select Settings.

  3. At the bottom, change the Shell script name field.

Toolbox App AppCode Settings

Command-line arguments

The launcher script accepts commands, options, and other arguments to modify its behavior:

Argument

Description

No argument

Launch AppCode.

Path to file or directory

Open the file or directory specified as the argument.

For more information, see Open files from the command line.

Commands

diff

Open the diff viewer to see differences between two specified files.

For more information, see Compare files from the command line.

merge

Open the Merge dialog to merge the specified files.

For more information, see Merge files from the command line.

format

Apply code style formatting to the specified files.

For more information, seeFormat files from the command line.

Options

nosplash

Do not show the splash screen when loading AppCode.

dontReopenProjects

Do not reopen projects and show the welcome screen. This can help if a project that was open crashes AppCode.

disableNonBundledPlugins

Do not load manually installed plugins. This can help if a plugin that you installed crashes AppCode. You will be able to start the IDE and either disable or uninstall the problematic plugin.

--wait

Wait for the files to be closed before returning to the command prompt.

For example, you can open file.txt with the following command:

appcode --wait file.txt

The shell will be waiting until file.txt is closed.